Call – Sign “Loquacious

I was thinking about this the other day when I was auditing my comms gear for yearly service. One of the most annoying behaviors on any detail are those specialists that like to communicate on the radios like they are having a telephone conversation. Due to the fact that there is such an influence of new specialists that have had little to no experience in using comms in a previous experience, the importance of radio protocols has not been stressed upon.

Limit radio communications to only important transmissions. Important meaning, what you have to say is pertinent to the detail and operations. Keep your actual transmission short and to the point. “Alpha to all stations, Showtime just left his room, we are headed to the elevator to the lobby. Get the cars up.” That is an actual transmission from a detail we had where we had a post outside the principals door. Whenever he/she came out the post stander would be the close-in until they landed in the lobby and I would take over. A better way to say that and keep it short and sweet would have been, “Pineapple [me] all stations [team] delta oscar [doors open], stage victors [get the cars up], Oscar mike [on movement – meaning we are moving]. That short burst of coded information is understood by all and everyone knows their duties under each part of the transmission. If there is anyone that did not hear the transmission other members will notice if any one person is not moving to the next phase line. If they are close to each other I’d prefer that they communicated offline like this, [Specialist that heard]”Did you copy that?” [Specialist that did not hear] “Negative.” [Specialist that heard] “Showtime is Oscar mike.”

Excessive radio usage can drive you crazy and after a day of hearing the same person talking over and over it can annoy the most senior of specialists. Imagine talking to someone on the phone who won’t let you get a word in. Take that situation and have that same person deep in your ear and even if you key the mike he cannot hear you back.